800BC with ties to Runes and think South children.. Rose stewed the information through her head, thinking about what the other students had said. Most of them had been wrong. She frowned, she'd red so much it was hard to think through the dredge to come up with what was necessary; that was the annoying part. Trying on anything, "Turkey?"

Twilight who had just been listening to everyone and making notes thought this through, further south?

"Could it be Mesopotamia and the rise of Greece, and Babylon. The the Balkans united into Makedona. And the large expansion of the Assyrians. They are all further south but not middle Africa or Asia major.

Qaz raised her hand and said, 'The Aramic and Greek alphabets both showed up about 800 BCE.'

She waved her wand again and the previous map rolled back into the roll and another came down.



"The nation of Scythia, darlings. It was founded in the Caucasus region to the north of the Black Sea and eventually straddles the divide between Asia and Europe, and by 100 BC it reached the eastern edge of what we now know as Germany." She smiled and flicked her wand. Everyone who answered, even though they didn't give her the right answer, got a piece of candy.

"Anyone know what kind of people inhabited the great nation of Scythia?" She asked them.

"They were Iranian speaking people of horse-riding nomadic pastoralists?
The Scythians were members of a nomadic people originally OF IRANIAN STOCK WHO MIGRATED FROM CENTRAL ASIA TO SOUTHERN RUSSIA IN THE 8TH AND 7TH CENTURIES BC."

Playing absentmindedly with the candy with one of her hands, Willow raised her other hand, "Um, well, The inhabitants of that region called themselves Skoloti, but the Greeks called them Scythians. So, I suppose the kind of people that inhabited this place were the Scythians or Skoloti? They were nomads, too, and came from the north of the Black Sea."

Anna raised her hand, hoping maybe this time she could get the answer correct. "The Scythians were Iranian-speaking nomadic pastoralists, which means they took their livestock from location to location to find fresh pastures," she said. Ugh, that sooo didn't sound correct, but at least it was true of the Scythians, even if it may not be the answer the professor was looking for.

Cale raised his hand. "Well, all I know Professor is that they spoke Iranian, and they were nomadic people as well," he answered. Wait, how did that make sense--didn't nomads wander around with their belongings taped to their backs and such?

Heidi raised her hand, wondering if she had it right. She shook her head, and then realized it didn't make any sense to her. She looked around and knew she might have it wrong, think Heidi, you know this. Heidi then raised her hand, when she thought she knew the correct answer. She knew they were nomads, but she couldn't think anymore of it.

Set raised his hand. "Well, the people were called either Scythians or Scyths. They were closley related to the Sarmatians. They spoke thier own language and practiced Animism as a religion." Set said.

So far, Plymouth was royally STINKING at Runes. He'd been taking notes, but he sure didn't know how to spell half the words the pretty Professor was on about.

Plymouth had NO IDEA what sort of people lived.... um... there on her fancy labeled map, but, despite his Dinosaurs-are-real syndrome from Astronomy... he wanted to answer. Plymouth raised his hand and wagered a less than educated guess, "Well. I reckon the kind of people that lived there then, you know, are the same sort of people that live their now." That was ... not an answer, so Plymouth cleared his throat and tried again, "Um.... People that ... wrote.. runes... lived there.... and they wrote Runes. And they were so awesome that we're STILL talking about them. I hope people are still talking about me umpteen thousand years later."

Jake was totally bamboozled. What in the name of Sir Cadogan's left hip was going on?! These questions weren't making sense to him, and the answer to this seemed almost obvious. He raised his hand.

"Erm... the type of people who live there... would have been... Scythians, surely. People from Scythia would have lived there," Jake tried. It made perfect sense to him.

That map... was kinda pretty though, with the colours and whatnot... Mmm... colours. Jake was, blatantly, mesmerised.

Erm...

Daphne was completely lost in this class. Between dozing through part of the lecture and devoting the rest of her attention to staying awake, learning the material came last. She didn't even know what the current topic was, not that it mattered to Daphne, she was pretty disinterested in Ancient Runes. She didn't even know the purpose of it. Instead, she took to scanning the room and counting the number of stones on the wall.

cedric was in ancient runes and he glance at proffessor Lupa and gave his tiny smile

The Professor, like the students had been taking small notes here and there. He had to commend Professor Lupa on her thorough teaching approach. She was one smart lady! When she asked the class what kind of people (with emphasis on the word kind) lived in Scythia, he nearly fell out of his chair with laughter at a little Ravenclaw boys answer, but he tried not to show it so as not to disrupt the lesson.

'Come on, David...be professional now.'

Barry raised his hand "The Scythians were a barbaric group of pre-Common Era nomadic tribes.They were expert horsemen, and were one of the earliest peoples to master the art of riding and using horse-drawn covered wagons. " he said. That was enough for now.

Dominic blinked and slid down in his seat slightly at Professor Lupa's sudden outburst about not seeing her yet. Oh darn, Kazimeriz had warned all the staff of his visit!? "Yes Professor Lupa, I will be visiting you soon, but I am working my way up in the castle. Not in the least bit afraid, do no worry, as I have not forgotten you" he gave her an affirmative nod, before directing his attention at trying to figure out this Runes stuff and not even noticing when Kapoor slipped into the room.


"Well I would imagine that the kind of people who inhabited Scythia were called Scythians and much of the same kind of people to inhabit the country today. Except that in modern day world, the area is inhabited by Iranians, I believe." Dominic replied, after raising his hand.

Kind of people... kind of people...

Grrr... there was only one kind of people, the people kind! Jake was a tad confused. He'd already answered but it seemed kind of... vague?

"Were they... studious, Professor?" he asked. "Like... smart... wanted to work out ways of communicating? And like, hence that's why we are talking about them now... I'm sorry to answer again, but this is all I can think of, other than that they spoke Scythyish..."

Was that even a word? Jake let his arm drop and started taking notes on what the Professor had already covered.

"They were called Scythians or Scyths, were an Iranian speaking people of horse-riding nomadic pastoralists who dominated the Pontic steppe throughout Classical Antiquity. By Late Antiquity the closely-related Sarmatians came to dominate the Scyths in this area. Much of the surviving information about the Scyths comes from the Greek historian Herodotus." Jessica answered after raising her hand.

Ruby had heard a varied answer in the room she put her hand up and answered " The Scythian nation was made up of various tribes having different names, though all are classed under one general name. Herodotus distinguishes, moreover, between tribes belonging to the Scythian nation, and tribes living among them having Scythian habits, but who were not Scythians by tradition or language," she smiled

Jesse thought for a moment, tapping his quill against the desk. Most other people had said something about Scythians and nomads and maybe something about their awesomeness? He couldn't remember and began to think once more. He had an answer, it was lodged in his brain. It was basically a repeat of what everybody else had said, but oh well. He raised his hand, "The Scythians, or Scyths, were an Iranian speaking people of horse-riding nomadic pastoralists who dominated the Pontic steppe throughout Classical Antiquity," he said quietly.

Mackenzie really had no idea. She wasn't very good when it came to history. She sighed and kept copying down notes.

"Very good, two points." Less smiled to the girl.

"It's pronounced Skolotoi, but yes they were nomads... Two points, darling." Alessia said.

"Very good, Prefect. two points." Alessia told her.

"Yes, dearest... Two points." Less awarded.

"One point, but I asked what kind of people inhabited Scythia..." Alessia clarified moving on.

She blinked at the ear hair boy. "Well... yes sort of..." She burst out in a fit of giggles, "It's not really the answer I was looking for my love, but, I'll give you one point." She patted his head.

"That's who, not what kind of people." She told the boy. "I'll allow one point."

Less kept an eye on the girl.

She ruffled his hair.

She smiled at the professor.

"Yes, Mr. Weasley," She smiled at the child.

"One point..." She said smiling. "And I look forward to your ascent to my office Mr. Denton."

Alessia laughed. "One more point then," she said to him.

"Yes, two points." she said with a nod.

"One point." She said with a smile.

"Two points." Alessia awarded.

"They were horse-riding nomadic pastoralists. They were a mix of Asians and perhaps North African tribes who plundered and pillaged their way towards Europe." She said and made the map roll back up. "So how is this nation important to the origin of Runes? Well, the Scythian tribesmen used wooden sticks as a form of divining. The ceremony was very ritualistic and one of the first ways of divining. This method moved north with the spread of the Scythian people. Some of you already mentioned the Greek historian Herodotus, who spoke about this method of divination. This gave the start to runes. Does anyone know where the word Rune comes from and what it means for that matter?" Alessia asked.

Evangeline stopped taking notes for a moment, raising her hand to answer the question. "The word rune comes from the old Norse word Runa meaning a secret or mystery, Professor." She said, remembering what she had read in the textbook.

Raising her hand Sakura said, "It means a mystery or secret and it is derived from the Norse word Runa."